The Hike
by itshowyoulive
Summary: John and the guys go camping and take Molly along. I actually wrote this story first and then had to go back and write Molly's introduction to the group so here it is, complete at publishing. It is a sequel to A Beautiful Day so some things will be more clear if you read that one first, but I explain enough that you could get the gist without it. Reviews are welcome, as always.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: The boys of 51 aren't mine, they belong to the lucky folks at Universal/Mark VII. I won't make a dime on this, but spending a little time with my favorite guys is priceless. Constructive reviews always welcome. _

The Hike

Molly's month at Station 51 was flying by, two weeks gone already and she was deep in discussions with the department about making the transfer to L.A. permanent. Negotiations were almost done and all that was left pending was which station would get her on a permanent basis. Things in Los Angeles were going extremely well and she'd never been so happy. She felt like she had truly found her niche with Paramedic work and things were even going good with the guys. They had come to feel like brothers to her and she had developed a strong relationship with each one. Johnny was the only "problem". They had been dating and were a solid item, but decided for the one month that she was in L.A. they wouldn't see each other outside the station. They felt that for their working relationship it would be best if there wasn't anything outside the station to affect how they acted in the station. The wisdom of this decision was obvious to both of them and things were fine, but the one month "hands off" policy was starting to get old for both of them. Still theirs was a happy relationship that felt as warm and comfortable as a favorite sweater in the middle of winter. She was thinking about these new relationships and how much they had affected her in such a short time as she came sliding in through the door into the kitchen. She was running late, again, and was afraid of making Cap mad. Despite the fact that Cap was her Uncle Hank she knew that he was too good a Captain to not separate their family relationship from their work relationship. She was already pretty sure she would draw latrines and didn't want to risk anything more than that.

Dashing through the door she nearly knocked over Johnny. He was standing right in front of the door showing the guys a map and some other papers he was holding in his hand.

"Ugh…oh, sorry John. I wasn't watching where I was going. What 'cha got there? Oh, never mind I'm late I gotta run. Be back in a min." The words tumbled over each other and 5 men stood there with mouths hanging open wondering how she could say so much without taking a single breath. Her habit of talking at top speed was something John had commented on the first time they'd met about 7 months ago. She said it was her "chipmunk on speed" voice. At first it was hard to keep up, but the men were surprised by how quickly they had adjusted to her rapid fire delivery. Amazingly, when she was on the radio with the docs at Rampart she had no problem taking it slow and steady. Molly took life in general at high speed and her speech was just one indicator of how much personality was packed into her small frame.

As Molly dashed from the room the men broke out into genial laughter and then went back to the map in John's hands.

Molly was stopped in her mad dash as she passed Cap's door when a gentle and yet, surprisingly firm, voice called out "Molly Stanely, roll call five minutes, you are late…again."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. It won't happen again, sir. Your daughters hogged the bathroom again and then I was out of gas, sir and had to stop at the station or not get here at all, sir. I'm sorry, sir."

Cap shook his head side to side, sighed and said, "Don't let it happen again or..." he paused, "I'll call your Dad."

"Please don't, Sir!" Cap simply arched his eyebrow at her and replied "Three minutes."

"Yes, Sir" rang through the bay as Molly once again made a mad dash for the locker room.

Molly yelled out as she ran through the locker room door, "Woman in the house!" She knew all the guys were in the kitchen, but they'd agreed on the code words indicating they should duck for cover if needed and she had gotten into the habit of calling out even when she knew it wasn't necessary. She figured that someday firehouses would be built to accommodate having both genders on staff, but Station 51 was sadly unprepared for a "woman in the house". Still, they had all made adjustments and gotten into habits that allowed everyone the privacy needed while still getting the job done.

Molly got dressed and rushed into the bay just in time to slide into line next to Chet Kelley a split second before Cap officially started roll call. She'd really have to work harder on getting to work on time. She'd never had this problem before and could only figure that she hadn't adjusted to living in a house with other women. She was used to having the bathroom pretty much to herself.

As she figured she landed latrines. She really needed some coffee before starting that disgusting job and went to the kitchen as soon as the group was dismissed. She'd get the latrines done soon enough.

Finding John making a new pot of coffee she leaned against a counter and asked, "What were you looking at this morning? I almost felt like I was running through one of those big signs they put up for football players to run through."

That got a chuckle from Johnny and almost caused a blush to creep up her cheeks. A symptom that was getting more and more common and she needed to put a stop to.

"I was showing the guys a new hike I found out about. There is a rock out in Riverside County that I heard about and might want to climb one of these days, well there is a hiking trail that goes up over it and I thought we could all go check it out the next time we have four days off."

"Hmm. What's the name of the trail and rock?"

"The rock has an Indian name, Tahquitz. The trail has a scary name, but is supposed to be pretty easy for experienced hikers, just steep in some spots and narrow in others. It is called Devil's Slide."

"I know that hike. I've never climbed the rock. You'd love it though. It's big, it'd be a good challenge for you, but not too hard from what I've seen you do. The hike isn't easy, but it isn't hard either. Steep and long for the most part, it can be done, up and back in a day, no problem. The trail along the top of Tahquitz can be pretty narrow and people have been known to fall off, but usually when there is ice or something else that happens. Mostly it's as safe as can be. You have to drive to a little mountain town called Idyllwild first, the trail head starts at a park just above town. You might want to consider driving out right after shift on the first day and camping overnight and then hiking the next day."

She paused her monologue to see all six of the men standing there looking at her with mouths agape.

"What?"

Roy laughed, "Nothing, it's just it seems like you try to make up for all the things Mike doesn't say."

All the men laughed at that quip except for Mike and Molly who shared an equally confused look.

"Molly, we're all just wondering two things. How do you know so much about Tahquitz and how do you say so much without breathing?" John asked.

"Sorry, Dad always said I could talk the ear off a statue. Once I get going I guess I just don't know when to stop."

"And what about the trail?"

Captain Stanley offered the explanation for that one. "John, you aren't the only person in this station who likes to camp, you know. Molly's dad takes the kids camping every summer and whenever he can in between. Their family knows the mountains between here and Mexico like the backs of their hands."

Molly blushed at the praise her uncle offered, but nodded her head in agreement.

"It's true. Dad dragged us to every trail and forest imaginable. We've camped Idyllwild and hiked Devil's Slide a bunch of times. It's kind of a family favorite."

"Huh, you should definitely come along then", Johnny proposed.

The men of Station 51 felt like they were spending an inordinate amount of time with their mouths hanging open today.

Chet blustered, "But, Johnny! The camping trips are a GUY thing. Why'd you invite a GIRL along?" Chet said "girl" like it was a dirty word.

"She knows the trail Chet, she could be a help."

Chet scoffed and turned his back on the group pretending he needed to get a fresh cup of coffee. Chet had had the hardest time adapting to a girl in the station. The fact that she had pranked him on her first day and a couple of times since hadn't helped matters any either. He had gotten used to having Molly around, but was the least close to her out of the men at 51. Roy and his wife, Joanne had taken Molly under their wing much the way they had Johnny. Joanne and Molly had quickly become best friends and would do things together on Molly's days off while Roy and Johnny worked on Roy's honey do list. Mike and Molly talked books all the time and seemed to get along well on a more intellectual level. Marco's mother had initially been shocked at the idea of a girl working as a Firefighter/Paramedic, but the instant they met they became good friends. Molly knew how to make tamales and enchiladas and wasn't afraid to step in and help Mama Lopez with the food at the last get together. Mama Lopez treated her like another daughter. Everyone knew that Molly and Cap were family. And, then of course, everyone knew about the strange situation that was Molly and Johnny. The two had fallen hard for each other last year and had maintained a long distance relationship until Molly was "borrowed" by L.A. to see how transitioning to having female firefighters and/or paramedics would work for the county. All this left Chet Kelley feeling a bit on the outside when it came to the Molly "fan club" as he called it. She didn't ignore him or make him feel bad, ever. They just hadn't developed the closeness the others had. Chet really didn't want her to come on the trip, but didn't want to make her feel bad about it either. He turned back to the group, asking, "So, Gage, when are we going to take this trip, it sounds like fun."

"We have a four-day next week. I know it's short notice, but I thought I'd head out there then. Who's in?"

In the end Roy and Cap had bowed out citing the need to spend time with their families and get things done around the house. School would be out for Spring Recess and their kids were looking forward to time with their fathers. The rest of the shift would be on their way to the mountains in a week.

The rest of the shift, anytime they had some down time, Johnny and Molly could be found sitting at the kitchen table, heads together, maps spread out, campsite information piled to the side and a notepad listing the things they would need before heading out. Chet felt left out.

The appointed day arrived. Thankfully the night had been relatively peaceful and the camping crew members were awake and ready to leave as soon as the B shift arrived at the station. They had loaded their gear into Johnny's Rover the day before and were ready for their adventure. The trip to Idyllwild would be long, a little over 2 hours if traffic cooperated, which it probably would not, so they had figured three hours before arriving at their campground. Happy chatter was heard all the way to their campsite, except from Chet, who was uncommonly quiet.

The drive passed quickly and soon they had left behind the freeways of Los Angeles and found themselves on a small highway road driving through farmland and dairy ranches.

Chet finally piped up as they passed by a field with content looking cows munching away on piles of hay, "Where are we? Podunkville?"

"It's a small town called Hemet, we drive through this town to get to the mountains," Molly answered.

"Never heard of it," answered four voices in unison.

Molly chuckled, "Not many have. My Mom's sister lives here. It's a nice, quiet little town if you don't mind the sidewalks being rolled up at 6 p.m. and the smell of cows."

Soon they were driving through what appeared to be an orange grove with the road going down the middle and could see the mountains rising behind the trees. As the grove ended, the road began to rise. The passengers in the car could feel the changes in the air as they climbed higher into the mountains and soon they had left behind palm trees and orange groves for stands of pine trees and manzanita bushes.

"Johnny, make a left at the fork and then watch for the sign for the County Campground," Molly announced.

During the planning sessions at the station Molly had shown that the opportunities for wilderness camping near Idyllwild were slim and the ones that did exist were on trails heading away from where they wanted to go. Johnny had, reluctantly, conceded to staying in a "regular" campground. Molly's family had stayed at this particular campground often and she knew the best and most secluded spot for their camp, where other campers would be least likely to disturb them. Johnny hated the campers that came to the woods with their radios, campers and generators. He came to the woods to get away from all that and had a healthy dislike for those that insisted on dragging it along with them.

"Hey, guys. If we get camp set up and eat a quick lunch I can take you on an easy, quick hike before dinner."

Molly laughed as again, four voices answered in unison, "Sounds great!"

With the same efficiency that they fought fires, the 51s crew had their tents staked out and some quick and easy sandwiches ready from the cooler that Molly had packed.

True to her word the hike was easy, but went through some really pretty areas of the mountains. The trail was almost entirely empty of other humans and they enjoyed the easy camaraderie as they walked through the forest.

Molly got them back just before sunset. A campfire quickly cooked up some fish Johnny had pulled from his freezer, saved from his last fishing trip. The group sat around the campfire for a while sipping coffee and enjoying the easy chatter that was always found during down time at the station. Chet continued to be quieter than usual, but everyone was having such a good time that nobody really noticed much. Chet liked Molly, he really did, but he was having a hard time with a girl in HIS world. He had seen first-hand that she had considerable skills when it came to fighting a fire. He knew first hand that she had considerable skill and bravery in her paramedic work. He'd been awed by her actions during the bus crash that had been Molly's first introduction to the men her uncle worked with. He still had concerns about a woman doing rescue work. She was so small. He was already the shortest of the regular crew members and she was even smaller. He doubted that when push came to shove she would be able to keep a member of the crew from coming to harm if there were an emergency on the scene of a fire. His resentment of her caused him to be uncommonly quiet around her, he just didn't have much to say to her. His mama had taught him the old saying "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Gradually the men splintered off, heading for the tents and sleep so that they would be ready for the much more strenuous hike in the morning. Soon it was just Johnny and Molly sitting at the fire quietly sipping their last cups of coffee.

"So, Molly, your dad is an outdoors enthusiast?"

"Of the worst kind," Molly's sweet laugh drifted through the campfire smoke. "You know he trained all of us to be firefighters since we could walk. He figured rock climbing and rappelling were good skills for us to have and camping has been a family event since the dawn of time. Or so he'd have you believe in any case. It didn't help me out that I was tacked on after three boys. My sister is a girly girl to this day and only tolerates us for the sake of familial peace, but I was practically raised by the boys."

"Johnny had to laugh at that last statement. "So, you were just one of the guys then?"

"Yep. By the time I came along my mom was so used to the boys ruling the roost that she barely noticed that I had pigtails. I grew up in jeans and sneakers. I liked doing all the things the boys did. My sister made sure I learned the proper manners for a girl and made sure I knew how a girl should act, but my nails always had dirt under them and you were much more likely to find me in a tree than having a tea party."

"I can see how that would be the case. Not many girls can do the things I've seen you."

"That was something my brothers taught me well, keep up or be left behind. I learned to be strong and fast."

"Bet nobody messed with you on the playground."

Again Molly's laugh rang out. Johnny really liked hearing her laugh. "No, nobody ever did. I was never bullied. Not so much because of what I could do as out of fear of my brothers. In addition to being last, I am a bit of a caboose you might say. There are five years between me and my next oldest brother. My parents thought they were done. My brothers all played football as well as other sports and the kids were well aware that these giants were on this earth strictly to protect me." She laughed again thinking about the fear she had seen when her brothers came to pick her up from school. She continued, "There was a boy once, thought he should get my lunch money. He'd just moved to town and didn't know any better. I told him to leave me alone or my brothers would 'take care of him'. He wasn't scared until school let out and my oldest brother, who happened to be home on a visit from college, came to get me. When I put my hand in his to walk from the school I turned and found the little boy who had picked on me. I looked him right in the eyes and stuck my tongue out at him. He never bothered me again."

Johnny shook his head picturing the event she had just described. He'd spent enough time around her family members to know that every word was true. "You were well loved. Still are."

"Yes, yes I was and yes, yes I am. You know, I only have a week left after this. I'm still not sure what decision I'll make when that week is up."

"I know, I'm trying to figure out how I'll feel when you are gone. Not sure I'm going to like having you all the way back in San Diego. I've gotten used to having you up here. One week isn't long at all."

Molly laughed, gently and softly this time. "No not long. Are you sorry I came on this trip? I kind of invited myself and took over. Sorry about that."

"No, I'm very, very glad you came."

"Thank you, Johnny. For everything."

"For you, anything."

"It's getting late, we've been out here awhile. This was nice, but I think I'm going to turn in now. G'night Johnny."

"Good-night, Molly. Sleep-tight."

"Don't let the bed bugs bite."

They both laughed and headed for their respective tents. If they hadn't been so wrapped up in their own conversation they would have noticed a distinct lack of snoring coming from the tents. If there had been any light to see by they would have seen two sly smiles and one distinct frown on the faces of the "sleeping" men.

Mike's smile was probably the biggest. He thought back to the events that had preceded this camping trip. It had been about seven months since they first met Molly, but only a couple of weeks since Chief McConnike had personally delivered Molly to the station because she was Cap's niece and more importantly and more obviously, she was a she. They had had to make some adjustments because Molly would stay at the station for a full shift with the rest of the men. A few changes had to be made to ensure privacy for everyone. There had been a few awkward moments, but they'd gotten used to having Molly in the house and she'd quickly become a little sister to most of the regular members of 51 A shift, except for two. One was jealous of a girl taking over his world, and the other definitely did not see her as a little sister. One member was head over heels for the green-eyed girl. Before she came to Station 51 Molly was already working full-time in San Diego and she had a steadfast rule that she refused to date any man she was stationed with. It caused too many questions and potential problems she just didn't want to get involved with. The two had agreed that her plan was best and that they would be co-workers only during her placement at Station 51. Mike thought Johnny would go crazy before then. He'd never seen him more in love and less able to do anything about it. They all knew that Molly being along on the camping trip would be interesting, but their conversation showed that they were hanging strong. Mike didn't worry that this relationship would stand this particular test of time and would most likely stand every test of time. He'd never seen two people more appropriate for each other. It wasn't long before there were soft sounds of sleep coming from every corner of the campground. Tomorrow would be a challenging day.


	2. Chapter 2

Dawn brought a crisp, gorgeous morning, perfect for a day of hiking. The crew planned to complete their hike and then return to camp for another night before heading home the next day so they left their tents standing and gear in place. After making sure their breakfast fire was out the five friends were off for their intended purpose. First stop was the Ranger Station to check in and let the Rangers know that they would be on the mountain that day with plans to return the same day. Conditions on the mountain could change quickly and the Rangers preferred keeping a close eye on how many were on the mountain should rescues be needed. They didn't want to waste time looking for people who weren't there, or worse, miss ones who were. A short drive from the station put them in a small parking lot at the base of a big, big rock. The five stood at the base for a long time looking straight up.

A soft whistle from Chet preceded, "You sure you want to climb THAT?!"

"Well, that's what we're here to find out." The huge grin on Johnny's face said that this hike was just a preliminary precaution and one day soon he would be back and climbing the face of Tahquitz Peak. Everyone took a moment to orient themselves to direction and landmarks. The trail was well marked, but getting lost would be highly embarrassing to each of them. They made their way to the trail head which was well posted with warnings about the difficulty of the trail ahead. A deep breath from each and they were off.

The trail climbed quickly and was quite steep in some places, but it took them through some of the most beautiful scenery they'd seen. Johnny stopped at a break in the trees and pointed across the valley to another rock. Where Tahquitz was tall and jagged, this one was broad and flat across the top.

"That's another option for rock climbing. There's a trail to the top of that one, but it's easier and faster than this one, but that's also why I wanted to check out this rock more," said Johnny with that famous crooked grin on his face. The grin faded as he said, "It's called Suicide Rock."

Mike shook his head, "I can see why. A jump off of that and you'd be beyond help."

"Molly, I know you know about the legend, you want to tell it while we walk?" Johnny asked.

"Sure. Like so much in Southern California there is an Indian legend attached to Suicide Rock. This story is a bit like Romeo and Juliet in the English tradition. A young warrior and a young maiden fell in love, but their tribal leader didn't approve of the match. The young lovers decided to meet and chose the rock you see across the valley as the meeting place. They did meet, but they had both been followed. The angry tribe members tried to separate the lovers, but they decided that they would rather be together in death, than apart in life, and together leapt from the rock to their deaths."

"That is so sad," Marco sighed.

"Yeah," said Mike.

Chet just bowed his head and studied the trail under his feet.

They all missed a slightly sad, but significant look between the other two members. They couldn't help but feel for the lovers separated by circumstance.

"Hey, Chet, why so quiet today?" Molly had noticed the lineman's lack of chatter.

"Nothin' just focused on the hike."

" 'K, just wondering. So, Chet, what got you into the fire business. I haven't had a lot of chances to get to know more about you. I think we kinda got started on the wrong foot. Sorry about short sheeting your bed. I couldn't resist. Cap had told me so many Phantom stories I had to try."

Chet grinned at her confession. Everyone had known it had been Molly who had short sheeted Chet's bunk on her very first day. "That's okay. It was a good joke. It isn't often that anyone gets one over on the Phantom. You know the Phantom would have gone after you if Cap hadn't warned him off."

"Oh, I'm sorry. No wonder the Phantom has been so nice to me. I had a feeling that wasn't normal. Hey, Chet, tell that Phantom for me that I'll tell Cap that I can handle myself and as long as he doesn't do anything to me he wouldn't do to one of the guys it's all good. Fair warning though, my brothers taught me to give as good as I get and I know A LOT of pranks. You'd be surprised."

"Nothing surprises the Phantom." Although if he had to admit it, Chet would have to say that this turn in the conversation did surprise him.

The next couple of miles were spent discussing different pranks they had all experienced. Many of the classics had been discussed, like chicken bouillon in a shower head, or shaving cream in the toothpaste. Chet had to admit he'd never heard of one that Molly told about. Turns out her brothers were expert pranksters themselves and one summer her oldest brother brought home some supplies from college to work the ultimate prank.

"So Sean, that's the oldest boy, loves to run and run for a long time, like Marathon running, so he is always mixing up these special concoctions for electrolyte replacement and such. Some of them are really disgusting, so when he comes up with a good batch he likes to hoard it. His favorite is Grape Kool-aid mixed with salt and some other stuff. I think it's gross, but he likes it and so does Shane.

She continued her story, "So, anyway, Shane is always drinking Sean's Kool-aid stuff, even though he puts his name all over it. Sean comes home for the summer and promptly mixes up a batch of his favorite stuff and puts it in the fridge. Later that day the pitcher was empty and Sean hadn't had a drop. That night Shane is in the bathroom taking care of business and everyone in the house is startled by this horrible scream. It sounds like Shane is dying in the bathroom. Seriously, it sounds like someone snuck in there and was stabbing him. Mom goes running to the door and was doing the whole mom thing. 'Shaney, are you okay. Open the door Shane. I need to see what's wrong. Are you bleeding?' So Shane finally opens the door and lets Mom in and tells her all about what's wrong. Mom comes out of the bathroom and marches right up to Sean and demands to know what he did. Sean is trying so hard not to laugh, but he loses it and spills the beans. He explains that it is totally harmless and nothing is going to happen to Shane except his pee might stay blue for a little while. He couldn't be sure exactly how long it would last. He had brought home a chemical called Methylene Blue and put it in the Kool-aid."

Mike jumped in, "I know about that stuff. It is pretty harmless. It's the dye they use in labs to make cells show up and stuff so you can see it better under a microscope."

"Yep, that's the stuff, turns out it's hugely useful in science and does all sorts of things including treat Malaria and even Cyanide poisoning. Turns out there are a few other side effects, like nausea, but Shane got off easy, all things considered. He peed blue for a few days and that was all. It taught him to not take Shane's stuff."

Everyone had to stop walking for several minutes until they could stop laughing and wipe the tears of laughter from their eyes. Chet had to admit that he'd never heard of that one and wondered where he could find Methylene Blue until Johnny said, "Don't even think about it Chet. We all know about it now and if it happens to anyone at the station we'll all come after you."

"Okay Johnny, but Molly's given me several other good ideas," Chet chuckled in a slightly evil way for quite a while.

Molly felt badly about giving the Phantom even more ideas, but her tactic had worked and Chet had finally come out of whatever funk he'd been in and was opening up. That made her happy.

Soon the trail started to level out and the mountain that had hovered above them was gone. They'd reached the top of the mountain. Molly pointed them down a new trail which turned out to be a piece of the PCT, or Pacific Crest Trail. The PCT ran from the California-Mexico border all the way to Canada and the trail they wanted now was just a small little section of that. The trail here was almost flat most of the way with just slight changes in up or down, it was a nice change after the steep inclines they'd just left behind. Finally they reached a big, flat clearing. Turning to the right they could see they had almost reached the top of Tahquitz Peak. From here the trail became narrow and rocky. The peak continued to rise on the left, but dropped off suddenly and steeply on the right. Molly warned them to watch their footing, it was a long ways down. Each person took a moment to stop and look over the edge. It WAS a long ways down, straight down. They followed the trail until it took another steep climb and then they were on the point of the rock where Johnny wanted to be to figure out some of the semantics of climbing Tahquitz. From his vantage point on top of the rock he could see that there were many good handholds and several possible ways up the rock. He could see a number of routes previous climbers had taken. He knew for sure he'd be coming back and tackling Tahquitz. They walked a short distance further to a lookout station. From here the Rangers could see for miles and miles and the station was here specifically to watch for forest fires. They stopped to talk to the Ranger on duty for a bit since they had something in common to discuss. They didn't stay long, they still had a long trek back to the car.

Coming back they had just reached the narrowest section of trail. They had to walk single file and were lined up with Marco in the front, then Chet, Molly, and Mike with Johnny bringing up the rear. Normally Johnny would want to be in front, but from his vantage point in back he could keep an eye on everyone through this most dangerous section of trail. It didn't happen often, but there had been several occasions where a hiker or rock climber had fallen to their death from this trail. Just as he thought they were past the most difficult section the worst thing happened and happened so fast he didn't know what had occurred until he thought about it after the fact.

"Chet, watch your footing right here, there's some loose stone," Marco called behind him.

Almost at that exact moment rocks began to fall from the ledge above them. The small rock slide headed straight for Chet and Molly.

"Chet, watch out!" Johnny heard Molly yell just before all hell broke loose.


	3. Chapter 3

A rock struck Chet hard on the shoulder just as his foot hit the loose stone Marco had warned about. The timing could not have been more perfect to cause a disaster. The man lost his balance and in trying to correct himself so he wouldn't go over, slipped and completely lost his footing. His flailing arm and some more stone from above struck Molly and knocked her off balance too. Molly could see that Chet was going to go over the edge and grabbed onto and held the arm that had struck her with her left hand. She tried desperately to get her right hand on any part of him to bring him to the ground instead of allowing him to fly off the ledge, but she couldn't get a grip in time. As she felt him sliding off the trail she threw herself on the ground, yelling, "Mike, HELP, grab my legs. Keep me from going over!"

Mike threw himself across her legs in time to keep her from going over just as Chet's body flew off the ledge. Chet in a desperate attempt to save his own life grabbed on to Molly's arm with his free hand and held on for dear life.

Molly grunted from the effort of holding on to the man who outweighed her by at least 60 pounds. The weight of his body wrenched her arm, yanking her left shoulder from its socket and causing a river of pain to shoot through her body. Her ribs were already complaining from the force she had used to root herself to the ground. She reached down with her right hand, gaining a grip on his shirt sleeve. She knew that any moment she was going to lose her hold on Chet.

"Johnny, Marco, help get Chet up!" The voice was right in her ear and belonged to Mike. All Molly could do was to try to hold on as best she could with her good hand. Chet's grip on her bad arm was incredibly painful. She could feel the two men coming up on each side of her and reaching over the cliff for their friend. Chet was gripping her bad arm even tighter and trying to help gain the few inches he needed to reach Johnny's and Marco's hands.

"Please, hurry, I can't hold on," Molly's voice barely gasped out. She was finding it harder and harder to get a good breath. She wondered if anyone even heard her. She gritted her eyes shut. Gritted her teeth together to hold the pain at bay and waited. The last thing she was aware of was Mike's voice in her ear again, this time low and soft, "Just hang in there Molly, they've almost got him, hang on just a second more. You did it Molly, you got him. It's okay now, you can let go."

Johnny and Marco were able to grab Chet's wrists and started the seemingly endless task of bringing him back topside. Chet was able to get his feet against the cliff face and helped walk himself up the cliff. After his feet were once again on solid ground everyone simply lay in the middle of the trail gasping for breath. Johnny was the first to recognize that Molly was not gasping like the rest of them, she hadn't even moved. He realized her left arm and her head were still leaning over the edge of the cliff. Her left arm hung limply and he could tell that the shoulder was dislocated even without palpating it. Putting a hand on her back he could feel her labored breathing and muscle spasms that rolled over her back like waves in the sea. "Molly, can you hear me? Can we move you back from there, I'm not happy with you hanging over the edge like that."

"No. I don't want to move," came Molly's voice, sounding smaller and more timid than he'd ever heard it before. "My eyes are closed. I can't see that there isn't any ground for at least 200 feet, probably more. John? My arm is really killing me. I don't want to move it, it's gonna be a…well, you know."

"Okay, let me and Mike do all the work, you just keep your eyes closed and try to breathe easy if you can."

Together Mike and Johnny worked to release her pack and carefully remove it from her shoulders. Thankfully the smaller day pack was easier to remove and toss to the side than a full camping pack would have been. Johnny reached as far as he dared in order to place her arm against her chest and hold it there while they carefully rolled her away from her injury and then slid her back from the ledge. Johnny noted that her breathing was still labored but steady and that there was no sign of trauma except to her arm. Her eyes stayed steadfastly closed.

"Molly, hey Molly, can you hear me? You can open your eyes now, nothing but blues skies overhead." When she didn't respond he continued, "I know it hurts and you just want to sleep it off, but I need you to open your eyes. Come on."

"I'm here John, I just need a minute. I think the wind got knocked out of me. Just need a minute. 'Kay?"

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding John replied, "Take your time, I think we all need to catch our breath after that. When you're ready, I know what I saw, but I'd like you tell me what you remember."

Molly knew she was being paramedic-ed. Johnny was in full paramedic mode and she knew what information he needed the most. He wanted to know how bad things were and she decided to remove some of his worry.

"Well, Johnny, what I remember is that Chet here decided he could fly, but I didn't think it was such a hot idea. Silly me tried to stop him and got knocked down for my efforts. It feels like I dislocated my left shoulder and bruised every rib in my body. I think I've got various bruises here and there from being pummeled by a rock slide. Oh, and that there is Mike and the other one is Marco, it's Thursday, we are off duty and hiking Tahquitz Peak. Good enough for you Mr. Paramedic?"

Johnny just shrugged his shoulder, grinned and said, "Yep."

"Hey, Marco, I know Molly has a first aid kit in her pack, would you please fish it out? Let's get you away from this ledge first, then let's sit you up and check out those ribs and your shoulder. I'm probably going to have to wrap your ribs as a precaution and then immobilize your shoulder before we move you off this mountain.

"Uh, and just how do you think you are going to be checking my ribs?"

"Oh, come on Molly, you know I need to see what's going on with your ribcage. I need to know what we are dealing with so we can work on figuring out how to get you down from here."

"Fine, if I cooperate, if you don't find any broken ribs will you let me walk down from here?"

"Maybe, but I doubt it. I think we should go ask the Ranger what arrangements they have for rescue."

"Please don't, I can do it. It's only a few miles and downhill almost the entire way. I can do it. I'm sure of it."

"Molly, I didn't see anything hit you in the head, but you seemed out of it for a minute and you are injured."

"Chet, are you okay?" Molly tried to twist to see where Chet was, but changed her mind when her ribs and shoulder screamed at her for even thinking such a foolish thing. "Sheesh, maybe I am hurt worse than I thought. I didn't ask before? Johnny, did you check out Chet? Is he okay?"

"I'm fine Molly. Except I feel horrible. I was the one who caused all this, you're hurt and all I've got is some scratches and bruises."

"Chet, I'm glad you're fine. I'd rather have a dislocated shoulder and sore ribs than a flat Chester pancake at the bottom of that cliff."

"Molly, I'm so sorry. I've had a hard time thinking of you as a part of the fire fighter family. The others have all accepted you as a sister and have put their trust in you. I was holding out, I don't know why. I will never doubt your abilities to do the job again. Without you I would be a Chester pancake and I don't like that idea very much. Thanks, Molly."

All Molly could do was look up at Chet and blink. She never imagined she'd hear what she just did. "Johnny, I think maybe you'd better look into that rescue option, I think Chester B. might be seriously injured. Did I just hear what I thought I did?"

"Yep, you heard it. I heard it. We all heard it. Chester B. apologized."

"Thank you Chet. You don't know how much it means to me to know you've got my back. Thanks, brother."

Chet dipped his head and studied his shoes again for a moment. "No problem, sis," was the quiet reply.

"Okay, back to business, let's get your ribs wrapped, your shoulder bandaged, and get you off this mountain somehow. First, maybe we should try getting you into a sitting up position?"

It was going to be a little tricky since they were still perched at one of the narrowest sections of trail, just wide enough for one person at a time to pass. Johnny reached his hands behind Molly's good shoulder and lower back and expertly helped her into a sitting position, gently slid her to the side and leaned her against the steep rock wall, leaving her feet hanging over the edge, but her body safely on the trail. Just that movement alone sent a spasm of pain across Molly's shoulder and down her back. No one missed the look that passed across her face and the way the color in her face faded several shades, especially not Johnny.

"Whoa there, take a breath, slower, slower. You okay? That hurts doesn't it? Molly, I think someone should go talk to the Ranger. Maybe you will still be walking down, but I want to know what they can do. Please?"

A slight nod of the head was all Molly could manage while she tried to get the pain level back down to a manageable level.

"Mike, Marco? Any volunteers?"

"Sure Johnny."

"I'll go."

"I'll do it."

The answers came all together.

"Chet, you are not going anywhere. You just went off a cliff, you were hit by falling rocks and as Molly pointed out, I haven't checked you out yet. You don't go anywhere until I do. Marco, you are on the wrong side of the trail. I don't like the idea of you trying to get past us at this narrow section. Mike how do you feel about doing it on your own? It's only a few minutes away."

Mike was already headed back the way they came as he called over his shoulder, "Be back as soon as possible."

Johnny nodded then turned his attention back to his patient. "Okay, let's look at those ribs first, shall we?"

Molly used her good hand to inch her shirt up Johnny could get a look at her rib cage.

"There's some, wait, make that A LOT of bruising already showing up, looks pretty painful." He palpated her ribs and didn't find anything that seemed broken or out of place. "Looks like you hit them on the rocks pretty hard, but nothing seems broken. Let's wrap them so they have a little support until we get you to a doctor."

Johnny opened up Molly's well stocked first-aid kit and pulled a roll of bandages. "Chet, could you give me a hand and hold the end of this bandage in place while I wrap?" John indicated a spot on Molly immediately below…well, Chet thought that if he moved wrong he and Molly would know each other a lot more personally than he ever intended.

Molly interjected, "Uh-no. I'll do it. Just start over here so I can hold it. Sorry Chet, nothing personal."

"Uh, that's okay. I don't mind, really." Molly, looked at Chet and noticed the distinctly uncomfortable look on his face and almost laughed.

"Relax, Chet. I wouldn't bite you if you had to get closer, you know."

Chet laughed at that and instantly looked more at ease. "You should, I'd more than deserve it."

"I don't like pancakes."

Johnny, Marco and Chet all just looked at her for a moment before they burst out laughing. Molly joined in until her ribs and back reminded her she shouldn't. She winced and shifted trying to relieve the tension across her shoulders. She also wished that the spasm along her lower back would stop, that alone was making her absolutely miserable.

"How's that pain level doing?" Johnny asked.

"Oh, it's doing just fine. It's strong and healthy, doesn't appear to have any intention of giving up anytime soon."

"Wish I could do more."

"I know, but we aren't even in the right county, you couldn't do more than you are if you had the gear anyhow. Wrapping the ribs seems to be helping a little. I'm sure once we immobilize my shoulder it'll feel a bit better too."

"Tell me about the pain you are feeling."

"It hurts."

"Who trained you that you don't recognize a diagnostic question when you hear one?"

"Oh, I recognize it, I just don't feel much like being diagnosed."

"Um, Johnny, I think she might be as bad a patient as you are," Marco chuckled.

Johnny scowled and turned his attention back to Molly. "I think she might be worse. What kind of pain?"

"It's hard to describe. My arm itself feels like it is on fire. My shoulders, across the back, are tight and keep cramping. My lower back keeps spasming and I think that one might be the worst. Level 7 or so during a spasm, not so bad in between."

"Seven? Sure you don't mean 8 or 9? You get pretty pale and diaphoretic when there's a spasm. You sure it's only a seven?"

"No, I'm not sure it's a seven, but that's as big as I want to think it is. If I start thinking it is bigger than that it might start to feel that big."

"Okay, thanks for the honesty. It's about what I expected. I really don't think we are looking at more than the dislocated shoulder, some bruises and it sounds like you wrenched your back pretty good but the sooner we get you treatment the better. The shoulder pain and back pain aren't going to lessen until the dislocation is reduced and the joint is back in place. From experience, I can say it's just going to get worse the longer it is out of place."

"Oh, that's just terrific. Thanks for the good news." Molly wasn't admitting it, but the spasms in her back were nearly constant and the pain was making her feel lightheaded and nauseous. What she really wanted was a nice hot bath followed by a nice long nap.

Johnny made quick work of wrapping the ribs and had moved on to immobilizing her arm and shoulder. Another roll of bandage bound her upper arm to her torso and a triangular bandage created a sling for her lower arm to rest across her chest. Molly was starting to feel like an Egyptian mummy. Mike trotted back into view just as Johnny tied the knot on the sling.

"Hey Mike, what's the word? Love the surprise you brought with you too, that's going to be a big help."

Molly tried to look around John and see what Mike had, but her view was effectively blocked.

"They are sending a helicopter to pick her and Chet up. They'll take them to the hospital down in that town we passed through, Hemet."

"They have a hospital there? That placed looked too small for a hospital."

"That's what I thought too. Ranger says it's a decent hospital though. It's the biggest building in the entire town. We wouldn't have been able to miss it if our route had gone through town instead of around the edges. Gave me his binoculars and I could just make it out. It looks a little like a baby Rampart."

All four of the others just stared at Mike. Molly raised an eyebrow. Chet had his mouth hanging open. Johnny had his head cocked to the side the way he always did when he was processing information that didn't make sense at first. Marco just looked like he was somewhat in awe.

"You know, I really wish you guys would quit looking at me like I grew another head when I say more than one sentence at a time, it's really annoying. I DO talk, you know. I just don't waste time on stuff that doesn't need to be said."

"Well, okay, thanks for the info Mike, where is this helicopter gonna pick us up?" Johnny asked.

"In that big clearing right at the end of this section of trail. There are no trees there to get in the way and it is flat enough for a landing pad."

"Great, that isn't too far." Looking at Molly, Johnny said, "Let's get you loaded up and see about getting you off this mountain. Marco, will you help out? Let's get this on her other side, as flat on the trail as we can get it and then we'll slide her towards you and on to the stretcher. You'll have her head, I'll have her feet. As soon as the trail widens we can each take a bar, but it'll just be you and me for a few yards."

"Wait, a stretcher? What stretcher? Who had that in their pack? I'm fine, I can walk the 100 yards to the end of this section."

Mike laughed at the idea that someone had carried a stretcher in their pack. "The Ranger gave it to me. It's just the canvas and pole style, nothing fancy, but when I told them what happened they thought we could put it to good use."

"No, I'm walking."

"No, you're riding in style, my lady," Johnny teased. When he saw the steely determination enter her green eyes he knelt in front of her, put one hand on her leg and looked her right in her gorgeous eyes. "You are NOT walking out of here. We are in this position because someone lost their footing. Even if we got you standing those spasms are not going to leave you sure footed. Molly, I love you and want you off this mountain in one piece, therefore, you WILL allow us to put you in this contraption and carry you the rest of the way off this trail. If you REALLY want to walk we'll let you when there is no more cliff to fall off. Deal?"

Molly looked into the expressive brown eyes of the man she loved and with tears pooling in her eyes nodded a simple yes.

"Don't cry. It doesn't mean you aren't strong, it means we are being smart. I'm not about to let you become a pancake either." Turning to address everyone John waved for the stretcher to be passed forward, saying "let's do this thing."

Carefully they got Molly situated on the litter. Marco carefully stood at her head and then turned his back, stooping to pick up the poles behind him. John stooped on his side and grasped his poles.

"Okay, Marco, on three. One, two, three. Up we go. Chet lead us out. Mike bring up the rear. Mike you did such a good job as a paper weight earlier would you please be ready to repeat that action if you see us go down? Thanks." Johnny didn't even give Mike a chance to answer. He already knew the answer and wasn't worried about getting the help he might need if any of them stumbled and heaven forbid headed for the ledge.

"Paper weight?" Mike asked.

"Well, yeah, Molly is small enough to just blow away like a piece of paper, but you kept her from doing just that. You were a great paper weight."

Chuckles echoed off the rock formations. "Ow, stop making me laugh, that hurts. I think I've proven I'm sturdier than I look. I'm hardly a scrap of paper. But, thanks Mike for being such a great paper weight. Don't know how that would have worked out if you hadn't been so quick to pin me down."

"S'no problem." The thought that ran through everyone's mind was, 'looks like Mike is back to being a man of few words.'

Gentle grins graced each face as they moved down the trail. Luckily this narrow, dangerous section was not really all that long and they'd already made it about half way before the accident, so they reached the safety of the open, flat area quickly and a collective sigh was sighed as Mike's foot was the last to reach safety.

Johnny looked around, found a nice flat rock that very much resembled a bench and led the group over to the flat area. Laying the stretcher on the ground he helped Molly to sit up. The color she had regained while resting on the trail was gone again and she looked very pale. The motion caused by the stretcher had sent her back into fits. The pinched look of pain was firmly in place around her eyes and lips and she was out of breath after the simple motion of sitting up.

"Molly, you still aren't looking too hot. I need you to take a couple of good breaths for me, okay?" Molly worked hard on getting her breathing under control. "Is your breathing better lying down or sitting up?"

"Lying down," her voice was small and tight, not like he'd ever heard it before.

"Okay, lying down it is. Rest Molly. Let me check on Chet and I'll be right back. Mike, will you keep an eye on her? I'm still sure there isn't anything too seriously wrong, but the pain from the back spasms is bad. She's hurting and there's nothing we can do except keep her comfortable."

"Go see to Chet, I'll keep an eye on her."

"Oh, Chet," Johnny drawled, making Chet's name long and drawn out.

"I'm fine Gage."

"I know, but let me check anyway. Sit," Johnny pointed to a section of rock near Molly. "Shirt off, you don't have any reason to be as shy as Molly. Show us what you've got."

Chet glared at Johnny, but removed the t-shirt he was wearing. Everyone gasped at the lacerations covering Chet's chest and the dark bruises that were starting to form.

"That doesn't look fine to me. Looks like you got a little banged up going over."

"I guess it is a bit worse than I thought."

"Let's just clean those up a bit and it looks like we'll be wrapping those ribs too, just as a precaution." Johnny got to work with some antiseptic wipes from Molly's kit and the last of the gauze.

"Looks like the lacerations really are the worst of it, Chet. You have a particularly deep cut that is probably going to need some stitches and it is bruising up in the most colorful way. It's going to hurt for a while. Looks like that might be where the falling rocks hit you. You were obviously walking just fine. Any pain in your back or arms? Looks like you are favoring that right arm."

"Just from being hauled up by them is all. Really, nothing major."

"Okay, I still want you to come with us for a little helicopter ride. I think the doc should take a look and they can make sure those cuts are clean, stitch that one on your shoulder and bandage them a bit better than I did."

Everyone could tell Chet really wanted to put up a fight and say no, that he could walk off the mountain just fine. They all also knew the feeling you were left with when an adrenaline rush went away. They knew he was probably starting to feel pretty weak and possibly even a little shocky.

Chet took a moment to think it over. He knew Johnny was right, he really wasn't in any shape to walk off the mountain and he really was starting to feel pretty awful.

"'K," was the only answer as a still dejected Chet studied the toes of his boots.

Mike was the first to break the silence, "Hey, Johnny. Give me the keys to the Rover and Marco and I will race down this mountain to the car and then stop and pack up camp. We'll meet you at the hospital as soon as we can."

"Good plan Mike. Thanks." Johnny dug in his pocket and tossed the keys to the Rover over to Mike.

Right then they heard the distinctive sound of rotor blades chopping the air. Looking up they saw a blue and white medical copter drawing near and then landing.

John turned to Mike and Marco, "We'll see you two later. Have a safe trip Mike and Marco, no more injuries today."

"Thanks Johnny, take care of those two and see you soon," Mike replied as he turned down the trail.

Marco waved over his shoulder shouting over the sound of the blades, "Via con Dios, mi amigos."

Johnny waved back and then turned to help Molly and Chet as they headed for the copter.

Johnny ran up to the door "Hey, nice to see you guys, I'm John Gage a fireman/paramedic out of L.A. county, do you have room for three? I've got two patients and I'd like to go along if that's okay?"

"Sure, I'm Joe and this is Brian we'll be your pilots today. Climb aboard, there is plenty of room for three in the back. You'll find headphones with mics for any who want them back there too. Do you need any help or is everyone fairly mobile?"

"I've got one on a stretcher if you could help with her."

Brian jumped out of his door and ran with John to help get Molly.

"Hey, Chet, go ahead and load up, we've got her." John led Brian over to the stretcher on the rock. He hadn't noticed before that now Molly was lying on her right side and was slightly curled into herself.

"Hey, you found a new position. Is it helping?"

"Mike helped me after I asked him to. It is helping just a little. It's taken some of the strain off my back. Do I have to move again?"

"I don't think so, I think we can move you just like that, you are still pretty centered on the stretcher. Hang on, here we go."

Together John and Brian got Molly loaded into the copter without too much jostling and while letting her stay in her more comfortable position.

Finally taking a seat for himself John pointed to the headphones draped over the back of each chair and then put on his own set. Chet followed suit, but Molly was looking at him with a question in her eyes. Reaching up he checked the length of the cord and realized it would just reach Molly so he settled a pair over one ear and placing the mic so she could speak if she wanted. He was rewarded with a soft, but wonderful smile. He figured giving the patient head phones probably wasn't normal, but then he figured not much about today had been normal so why stop there.

"Hello, this is Joe, my co-pilot is Brian and we'll be your pilots today. Your stewardess will be by shortly with snacks and drinks. This will be a short flight today, about 15 minutes to Hemet-Ryan airport. From there your transport will be waiting to take you to beautiful downtown Hemet and your final destination of Hemet Hospital. We hope you enjoy your flight today and that you do NOT fly with us again anytime soon."

Molly was doing her best not to laugh and failing miserably. Johnny could see the pain around her eyes at the same time they were sparkling with laughter. It was an odd sight.

Brian's voice was next over the headphones, "Sorry about that folks, but see, it's not too often that my friend here gets to have a live audience so he takes advantage when he can. The mic on your headphones is active so we'll be able to hear you, if you'd like a chance to tell us the story of how you came to be on this bird, we'd like to hear it."

Johnny spoke up for the group, "Hi guys, you already know my name is Johnny, my pretty friend is Molly, and my not so pretty friend is Chet. We are all firefighters out of L.A. Molly and I are also paramedics."

Joe's shocked voice through the headphones asked, "You have GIRL firefighter/paramedics?!"

"Yep," Johnny replied, "that makes Molly pretty special." He looked at Molly and gave the smallest of winks as his trademark crooked grin spread across his face. Molly smiled back. She loved this guy and was so glad that he was with her to make this feel a little better.

Brian was asking, "How'd you guys end up on this ride? Gotta tell you all that it isn't often that we pick people up off this mountain that are walking and talking."

"It's a long story Brian and Joe, but it goes something like this. Chet thought he could fly. Molly disagreed and landed his butt back on solid ground before he had a really good chance to try. Our girl saved this turkey's life today." Johnny went on to explain the entire situation of the camping trip, checking out the rock for a future rock climb and the accident that banged up Chet and hurt Molly.

"So, you're telling me that this little wisp of a girl behind me, kept this sturdy dude sitting behind my friend, here, from becoming a pancake?" Brian asked.

"That's what I'm telling you. Saw it happen with my own two eyes. Now, it was a real team effort at the end. Her arm was too hurt to haul Chet's chunky butt back up the cliff herself and our friend who headed off when you arrived acted as a great paper weight to keep our wispy girl here from blowing away, but if she hadn't grabbed on when she did and held on as long as she did, there would have been one less person coming off the mountain today."

"Well, I'll be…," Brian whispered into the mic.

"Hey guys, our trip today has just flown by, we are coming in for a landing right now at our little bitty airport. We already have an ambulance waiting for you. We don't have paramedics here, yet, but hopefully soon. Sounds like you guys do good work. Thanks for making this trip a good one. I'm sure you are aware how hard it can be hauling in corpses. Thanks for doing your jobs right and keeping our job happy today. Sorry you guys got hurt. Good luck at the hospital. Hopefully they won't find anything too serious and you'll be on your way home soon. It was nice meeting you guys." Joe waved at them as the ambulance attendant came forward to help load his patients.

"Hey, Joe?"

"Yeah, Brian."

"Did you ever think you'd see a girl firefighter?"

"No, can't say that I did. Sounds like they couldn't have asked for a better one though."

"Yeah, really. Gotta say though, if it happened the way John said it did, we should look into getting some girls on our team."

"You got that right, buddy. You sure got that right." The two copter pilots headed for the small diner located at the airport for a cup of coffee and to further discuss girl rescuers and walking, talking rescuees.

Meanwhile an attendant was helping Chet off the copter. "Hi folks, I'm George and the driver there is Harold. I understand we are taking you to our local docs for a going over. I can see that the young lady is looking like a mummy and is probably the patient most in need of care. Am I right?"

By this point Molly was really starting to look the worse for wear. She was in constant pain at this point it was starting to show.

"You hit the nail on the head, George," Johnny replied. He already liked this guy as much as he had liked the fly guys, Brian and Joe. If he ever left L.A. he wouldn't mind working with people like these guys. "The young lady is Molly, I'm John and the other walking wounded over here is Chet. Molly is looking at a dislocated shoulder and some bruised ribs. She's also experiencing some pretty severe muscle spasms. Chet has minor lacerations covering his torso, possible bruised ribs and possible strained right arm. He's not being forthcoming so it could be shoulder, could be elbow, and could be wrist. Watching him I'm leaning towards sprained shoulder or bicep."

"Okey-dokey then, Lady Molly, your chariot awaits, you get the gurney."

"No, please, I think I can sit now."

"Nope, no can do. The docs will be more impressed if we bring you in on a gurney. Then they'll let us keep our jobs," George winked at Molly and helped her get settled on the gurney.

"You other two can settle in, make yourselves comfy. The hospital is about 15 minutes away. We won't be going in hot so it could take a little longer, but we'll get you there."

"Thanks George," Johnny said "fifteen minutes is kind of a long time. When you aren't hot it takes, what, 20 minutes?"

"It can, and this isn't the furthest reaches of our area so it can take even longer, but it's the only hospital for many, many miles and we are lucky to have it. Nearest hospital is another 45 minutes or so from here."

"Wow, that's rough. Do you guys have paramedics to help?"

"No. The city council has been debating it for a while and we think they are ready to approve the program. Most of our patients are a little closer than this, but the valley covers a lot of area and lots of days we just aren't fast enough. We have a very elderly population, a lot of heart attacks and strokes that don't end well. We just hope they move it along. We're tired of moving bodies that could still be alive if they got medical treatment sooner."

"Hey, man, you're preaching to the choir here. I'm a paramedic in L.A. County and became one for exactly the reason you just mentioned. Molly's a paramedic too, trained in San Diego. She's just helping us out in L.A. for a bit. If you guys need any help just call Rampart Hospital in L.A. and talk to Dr. Brackett or call Station 51 and ask for me, John, or my partner Roy. We'll be happy to do what we can."

"That's great! Hey, did you hear that Harold? This guy is a paramedic and wants to help us get the program running." Harold gave a thumbs up sign while keeping his eyes on the road.

"So your fire department is on board with this plan too, or are you looking more at EMT's than Paramedics?"

"Oh the fire department is pushing hard. We'll still just be delivery guys, but we're okay with that if more of our deliveries are breathing when we drop them off. Right, Harold?" Another thumbs up from the front of the ambulance was the only answer. John thought Harold might be the quietest person he'd ever met and that was saying a lot considering he worked with Mike.

"Well look at that. We must have hit all the lights just right, we're already here."

The passengers waited for the familiar turn and backing up motion they associated with arriving at the hospital. It never came. As Johnny hopped out of the ambulance he could see why. The E.R. receiving doors faced what amounted to a small alley at the back of the hospital. There was no room to back in so the ambulance simply pulled up just past the doors and let the passengers out right in front of the entrance.

"Let's get you guys checked in so I can get back to work. Thanks for talking to us on the way in. It's always nice to have someone to talk to. Really beats the other type of runs." George led the gurney to the admitting window and then kept pushing as the nurse at the window waved him on and gave him signs for 3 and 4. George led them to a large open room and pulled up by a curtained off bed. He helped Molly shift to the other bed, leaving her with the head of the bed raised and in a more sitting up position than she had been. He pointed Chet to the bed next door and then waved his good-bye as he took his gurney back to his ambulance so he and Harold could be ready for their next run. The group slid back the curtain separating the two cubicles so that Chet could sit on his bed and still talk with the others.

"Not like Rampart is it?" Chet was the first to comment. One of the things they took for granted at Rampart was that all the treatment rooms were private. This felt a little odd to the group.

"No, these curtains don't provide much privacy, but everyone we've met so far has been so nice. I'm sorry I have to meet them injured, but they've all been a great bunch of guys." Molly looked to John to back her up, she needed it. This was indeed, feeling a little odd. She wished that the person she saw next would be Dixie or Dr. Early. Even Dr. Morton would be a comfort at this point.

"They sure have been. I'd be happy to work with any one of them. Those fly guys were so funny. Too bad more of their patients can't appreciate the way they are able to put people at ease. I feel bad for the ambulance guys. I've been there, we all have. I hope their city council gets on board and they can get some paramedics here. Sounds like they need it."

Just then a nurse peeked into their curtained "room". Hi, I'm Sally, I'll be your R.N. today. How we doing in here?"

"Doing okay. Molly here is in quite a bit of pain and Chet there would start leaking if you gave him a glass of water, he's been punctured a few times, but other than that we're doing okay."

"Alright then, let's get a little information for the charts and we'll get moving on some treatment and hopefully some pain relief. First, both of you guys need to step out for a minute so I can get Molly into a gown. Who did the bandage work here?"

"That would be me. My name is John Gage and I'm a fireman/paramedic with L.A. County and I administered first aid to both patients. We only had the basics up on the mountain, but I did what I could."

"You did a great job. I don't think I've ever seen such an immobile shoulder," the nurse chuckled, "let me get a pair of scissors and get you unwrapped. The doc is going to need to see what's under there. We've been looking at getting paramedics here, if this is an example of the work they do I think they'd be a real asset to our town. In fact, wait here while I get the scissors and the doc. I think he'd want to see the results of some first class training. He's really been sort of antagonistic about this whole paramedic thing. Be right back."

Sally bustled off in search of the doc and the scissors. John turned to Chet and Molly saying, "Great, another Doc Brackett." Molly hadn't known Doctor Brackett in the early days of the paramedic program, but she'd heard all about his reluctance to get on board. Chet laughed and shook his head, "at least this group won't have to wait for a bill to pass before they can work."

John huffed, "yeah, they'll just get to go to work and start saving lives right away, lucky ducks."

"And, all because of guys like you and Roy. It's because of you that they'll get to do that," Chet offered. The words brought a strange quiet to the room as each one pondered the enormity of what John and Roy had actually accomplished.

"He's right John. Even my training in San Diego and work up here were only possible because of you and Roy and the others in the first classes. You guys trained not knowing if you'd ever put it to use. That changed things for all of us."

The return of Nurse Sally and the doc lightened the suddenly somber feeling in the room.

"Doctor Shulman, I'd like you to meet John Gage, fireman/paramedic from L.A. He did the nifty bandage work you see on Miss Molly."

"So, you're a paramedic, huh? Like to play doctor?"

"Whoa, doc, I think you've got the wrong idea," Chet was yelling.

"It's okay Chet," John waved his hands in a "down boy" sort of action. "No doc. I don't play doctor. I listen to their instructions and carry them out. Without the doctors and nurses at our base hospital all I can do is offer basic first aid. Much like I did today. My training IS more advanced than the basics all firemen learn, but I can't do much without my doctors. I've had a lot of practice immobilizing shoulders due to treating fellow firefighters. It's an injury we come up against a lot."

"Humph, sorry about that. I've had a lot of pressure to get this paramedic thing going, but I'm just not convinced it's the right thing to do."

"Let me give you the contact number for the head doc at our E.R., Doctor Brackett. He'll be happy to tell you all about the pros and cons of the program. He felt just as strongly as you do, maybe more so, about being against the program when it first started. He is now one of its biggest proponents."

"Thank you, Mr. Gage, was it? I'd appreciate being able to talk to someone who has experience with the program. This is an excellent job of immobilization, by the way. You did a beautiful job."

"Well, just so you know, when you get underneath all that you'll find some wrapped ribs too."

"Good to know. Now, let's clear out for a moment while the nurse unwraps our patient and you can give me that number."

When the group of men returned they found Molly unwrapped, but looking very pale again and slightly panting, trying hard to catch her breath against the pain.

"Whoa, what happened? Slow down your breathing Molly, come on."

"I…forgot…how much….s-s-support the…wrap offered. I tried to move…B-b-bad idea….S-so-rr-y. Spasms are back, too. Stupid."

"Hey, not your fault, just try to take slower breaths and a little deeper. It's okay," Johnny put a restful hand on her good shoulder and gave just the slightest, comforting squeeze.

"Okay, Molly, let's see what we've got and see what we can do to ease your pain a little. Let's start with some x-rays and we'll go from there. Nurse Sally already got your history and the story of how we came to this point?"

Molly gave a little nod.

"Okay, I hear the x-ray guy right outside, let's close this curtain and keep Chet next door for now and we'll get started on him while you get x-rayed. Come with us Johnny you can fill me in while we check out our other patient."

Johnny was preparing to once again tell the tale of Chet's attempted flight and Molly's mad grab to keep him grounded. He hadn't started the tale yet when he realized he still had to tell the tale one more time and that it would be the worst time yet. Chet watched as his friend visibly paled.

"Gage, what's wrong?!"

"I have to call Cap…he doesn't know. We took her on a simple camp out and we are bringing her back injured. Oh, man."

"John, go call. We'll be fine here. Tell Cap it's all my fault. He'll understand. If I'd been more aware…"

"Hey, you guys know that there is only a curtain between us, right? I can hear every word."

"Please hold still or we'll get blurry x-rays."

"Oh, sorry. It's nobody's fault. It was an accident. Just get me home and I'll tell Cap myself."

Dr. Shulman stood by watching the interaction and finally asked, "There was an accident and you got hurt, that's just the name of the game, why would your Captain get so mad about this injury?"

In unison the two men answered, "she's his niece."

"Oh…well, we'll have to take extra special care of her then so that you guys don't end up visiting your home hospital." The doctor grinned broadly as he went back to work making sure Chet really was 'just fine'.

The two men grinned at each other. They liked this guy.

"So, Mr. Gage, step out here and let Mr. Kelly have his turn with the x-ray guy, I want a look at that arm he's favoring, and tell me how you came to have a female firefighter/paramedic in the first place and then how you managed to damage her. We keep getting interrupted on this story."

Johnny was getting really good at telling this particular story and gladly filled in the doc while Chet got x-rayed then had his cuts cleaned, bandaged and stitched. The story finished just as the x-ray tech returned with the films and the doc applied the last bandage.

"Okay, let's see what we've got." The doc slid the films into a nearby light box and scanned over them. "Well, looks like your diagnosis was correct Mr. Gage."

"Please, it's Johnny."

"Okay, Johnny. Molly," he pointed to one set of films, "there are no cracks in the ribs and the shoulder joint is fully dislocated but I don't see a single chip. There is no visible damage to the spine. I'm fairly certain the spasms are just a muscular injury caused by the force of the fall and the force of having an adult male attached to her arm. Looks like a reduction of the dislocation, which I think we can do manually and avoid surgery, and then immobilization and rest should fix our girl right up again. Chet," he pointed to the other set of films, "it looks like he's got a really good strained bicep, nothing's showing up here that we need to worry about. He'll get a sling for a week or so, some range of motion exercises to start in a few days and will be feeling 100% in no time. Let's get to work."

Doctor Shulman entered Molly's cubicle, explained the procedure and asked the nurse to administer some morphine. We'll only do the morphine for the reduction and to block the back pain for now. It's too strong to keep it up, but I want Molly nice and relaxed for the reduction and it should help her back start to relax. When the morphine wears off you can start with muscle relaxants, such as Valium, there's newly approved drug, Flexeril, which does a good job too. It'll help until her back heals. For pain ibuprofen will be preferred instead of anything narcotic. The goal is healing not doping. I'll want her to see her physician within the next two days and start physical therapy for both the shoulder and the back as soon as possible.

The nurse had started an IV already since Molly was showing some signs of dehydration. She used the port to inject the powerful drug that would help Molly relax. It did its job quickly and Molly's eyes glazed over as it took hold and the pain that had been plaguing her faded.

It didn't take Doctor Shulman long to get her should back in place, he seemed quite experienced at this type of procedure. "Okay, let's get an immobilizer on her and I think you guys will be ready to go. My admitting nurse informs me that two additional scruffy men, dressed for hiking, have arrived in her waiting room and are asking about you guys. Chet, if you want to join them, here are your walking papers, just hand them to the admitting nurse on your way out after you sign them. You really don't need any follow up, you'll be fine, but I know Doctor Brackett will want to give you his personal once over before your next shift, so make sure you stop by, tomorrow if you can. You can tell your friends it'll be half an hour, forty-five minutes at the most. We have an excellent cafeteria just down the hall if you guys are hungry. They cook up a mean hamburger."

"Thanks doc, I think I'll do just that. You want something Gage?"

"If you can get me a burger in a to-go box and I'll eat when we are in the car. Get Molly something too, but not a burger, maybe a sandwich or something. Something light. I don't think she'll be wanting too much before we can get home and make her a proper meal." John glanced at his watch, realizing he had lost all track of time. Despite the excitement of the day, it was still early and still reasonably within lunch time. They'd be home in plenty of time for dinner, even if there was some traffic.

"Okay, see you out there in a bit."

"Thanks Chet."

"I didn't do anything Gage. I got Molly hurt is what I did."

"Knock it off Chet. You helped all along the way. You helped keep her calm. You helped keep me calm. Not sure I could have kept my cool on this one if you hadn't been here. You helped Chet, and this was nobody's fault. I'm just glad we are all going home and nobody got dead out there today. Molly isn't blaming you so don't blame yourself and just recognize, for once, the good you do for our team. I'll probably never say it again so don't go forgetting it."

Chet had spent a lot of time looking at his toes that day and was doing so now. "Thanks John. You're right, nobody's fault, just an accident and I'm glad I could be a help today, even if I didn't realize it." Chet grinned at John and headed towards the food he knew they all needed.

John sighed. "Molly, it's been quite a trip. Man, who knew when we left yesterday, wow, was it just yesterday, that this trip would be so crazy. We've met some great people today and I think we've grown closer as a team. It's crazy. Roy is never going to believe this one."

"I'll tell J-ann," Molly was slurring her words she was so out of it from the Morphine, "she'll tell Roy. He be..be…be…trusts her. S'nobody fault. S'not Chet's fault. Chet's good guy. Who knew?" And with that Molly's eyes drifted closed and Johnny laughed.

"Yeah, who knew?"

The doctor and nurse team moved to remove Molly's IV line, then the nurse realized they had a small problem.

"I don't think Molly wants to wear the hospital gown home. I can help her put her pants back on, but we cut her top to get it off."

"Oh, I hadn't thought about that. You know, I have a button up shirt in my gear bag out in the car. I'll find my friends and be right back. I think that shirt would fit her just fine. Just in case I'll see if Chet or Marco have anything in their bags." John didn't have to mention that he was thin as a stick and, well, Molly, while petite was curvy in all the right places and his shirt might not cover everything that needed covering.

Johnny walked out to the waiting area and didn't see his friends, but then remembered they were going to go get some food. Johnny was an expert at finding food. Following his nose he quickly tracked them down in the cafeteria.

"Hey guys, you sure got here fast."

Mike swallowed the bite of hamburger he'd been chewing before answering, "Yeah, remember all those switchbacks the trail had on the way up? Well, they didn't exist on the way down." He winked at Marco.

"What do you mean there weren't any switchbacks?"

It was Marco's turn to answer, "Well, see John, we sort of straightened them out by just ignoring them and taking the shortest route down."

"Those switchbacks were there because of how steep the trail was. You guys just ignored that, huh? Well, glad you made it back in one piece. That couldn't have been easy."

"No, but it was kind of fun. Good thing we didn't run into any Rangers they probably wouldn't have liked our off road activities," Mike laughed. "How's Molly by the way?"

After John explained the current problem Marco went with him to show him where they had parked the car and to pull a button up shirt he had in his bag in case Johnny needed it.

When he got back to the E.R. he found Molly more awake than she had been when he left. He smiled at her and then handed the two options to the nurse so that she could help Molly finish getting dressed. While he waited outside the curtain Dr. Shulman returned with Molly's discharge paper work and two bottles of medications with the instructions for taking them.

"I'm sending Molly home with something for pain and a muscle relaxer. Those spasms she was having will decrease now that the dislocation is repaired, but her back took a beating so those lower back spasms could continue for some time, but they will continue with decreasing frequency. The muscle relaxers will help with that. She is likely to feel some pain for several days. That too will decrease over time, but for at least today and tomorrow I want her to take these regularly so that her body has a chance to relax and heal. After that she can take them as needed. Now, normally, I'd probably want to keep her overnight, but I know she is going home to a really good support team. I would feel better if you were able to somehow stay the night with her and keep an eye on her. She's probably not going to feel too steady for a day or two and we don't want her falling and hurting herself further."

"I think that can be arranged Doc. If not myself I know my partner and his wife will take her in and make sure she is taken care of tonight and as long as needed."

"Good, good. I went ahead and called Rampart, Dr. Brackett wants to see her tomorrow. I'm sending a copy of my notes and her chart with you. You can give it to him when you see him. Thanks for your help on the paramedic project. I feel a lot better about it after meeting you and talking about it. Dr. Brackett has agreed to a meeting next week so that we can discuss it even more. Again, thanks for your help and take care. If you ever find yourself back in Hemet, look us up and see how we are doing with our paramedic program."

"I will Doc. Thanks for all your help and taking such great care of my friends. I'm hoping to be back out here before too long. I want to go up the front of that darned rock next time. I'll be sure to stop by."

"Sounds great, just don't be injured when you do." The doc gave Johnny the bottles, papers and a smile. "See you later Johnny."

"Bye Doc."

The nurse had Molly all set in a wheel chair, ready to push her out to the car.

The first thing that Johnny thought was 'wow she looks really good in my shirt', then out loud added, "Let me go pull the car around, get the guys and we can be off."

In just a few moments the Rover was sitting in front of the E.R. entrance with the guys inside and ready to go. Several boxes of food sat in the front seat waiting to be opened and consumed. They decided that Molly should have the front passenger seat so she could lean against the door on her good side and have a bit more space than the crowded back seat.

Soon, they were on the road home and Molly was sound asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The trip went quickly. There was little traffic until they reached L.A. where they were just hitting the very beginning of rush hour traffic.

"I don't know what you guys think about it, but I'd like to drop Molly off first, we can work out what to do with her car later. She is staying at Cap's house, but he comes in so early she drives herself most days so her car is still at the station." The men had driven in together the day of the trip and Johnny would be driving each of them home later.

"Sounds good to me, then we can all explain to Cap what happened. How do you think he's going to take it?" Mike asked.

A soft and still somewhat slurred voice said, "He'll take it fine. I'm a big girl."

"He should be proud," Chet said softly, "she saved my life up there. It's nobody's fault she got hurt, but her quick thinking and refusal to give up saved me from falling to my death. He should be proud."

"You are right Chet, he should be proud, and he will be, once he knows the whole story," Mike said.

Marco and Johnny made sounds of agreement.

"Wish we could keep Molly hidden until he understood the whole story," Chet said.

"Don't worry about it. Cap is a reasonable man. He'll be fine," Marco said.

"Lis'n to Marco, he's right." Molly was starting to wake up, but was still drowsy. "Time s'it?"

Three sets of eyes looked at their watches and three voices said, "Almost four o'clock."

Molly and John laughed, time was very important to firefighters and paramedics, they all wore watches all the time and answered questions about time as a matter of habit.

"G'd, almos'dinner time." Molly paused while a huge yawn took over, once it passed she seemed more awake. "It's still a gorgeous day, who wants dinner? Bet I could convince Cap to host and grill it for all of us."

"Let's stop and grab some ingredients really quick, maybe Molly is right, bet a nice, relaxing dinner will help," Chet offered.

"Johnny, you can find a pay phone and call Roy and give him a head's up and see if he can come over," Molly suggested.

"Hold up there a minute you guys. What about Cap's wife, how is she going to feel about 5 dirty, stinky, injured people showing up on her doorstep and then possibly Roy and his entire family too?" Johnny felt like he was the only one thinking with his head at the moment, everyone else was thinking with their stomachs. He was getting hungry though. It'd been a long day and the burger he'd eaten had been delicious, but had barely touched the raging beast making itself known in his gut.

"It'll be fine. I'll talk to Aunt Grace and Joanne can help if she comes. We'll buy everything we need including paper plates so Aunt Grace won't have to do a bunch of dishes. Cap'll do it for me, I promise, it'll be okay. I've had a rough day and I would like nothing better than to enjoy a relaxing evening with my brothers and my friends."

That sealed it. They were having a party for Molly when they got home.

Johnny pulled into a market not far from Cap's house and the men ran inside to get the ingredients they would need, some steaks and hot dogs, some deli potato salad and some drinks and chips and some pies and cakes for dessert as well as the paper plates and cups and they were ready to go again. Molly stayed in the car and rested while Johnny called Roy and gave him a quick version of the story and promising him the rest if he came to Cap's house for dinner in about an hour. Johnny wanted to give them time to warn Cap and tell him the story first. Roy promised he'd be there and said that Joanne had a casserole already in the oven that would go well with the BBQ and they'd bring it along to add to the feast. Roy really wanted to get the whole story on what had happened. While everyone joked that Johnny was the danger magnet it seemed like their entire crew was able to attract more than their fair share of trouble, except Mike. Mike was too cautious and analytical to just go finding danger. It was the quality that made him such an excellent Engineer.

Before long the Rover was pulling up in front of Cap's house and the entire crew was rethinking the idea, but there was no turning back now. They didn't plan it but the four men instinctively surrounded Molly in a protective formation. When Molly realized she was in the middle of a fireman fort she started to giggle.

"Um, guys. Hey, I know you mean well and all, and I know you probably don't even realize you are doing it, but I don't need to be guarded."

The four men looked around, realized they had put Molly in the middle of a firefighter circle and then they all laughed too and assumed a more natural stance.

"Sorry Molly, guess it just comes naturally to us," Marco explained.

"Yeah, there might not be a fire, but guess we still feel the need to protect you," Mike added.

"It's the least I could do, all things considered," Chet said.

"We should probably let you lead the way, it is your house," Johnny still felt like he was the only one actually thinking today and it was a little unnerving.

"Probably a good idea." Molly stepped forward, opened the door and called out, "Uncle Hank, Aunt Grace? We came back early, anybody home?"

"Hi. Welcome home," Grace called as she stepped from the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel, "your Uncle is outside firing up the grill, we thought we'd eat outside tonight. We weren't expecting you home until tomorrow though. Hi, guys. What happened? " Grace noticed the sling around Chet's arm and the brace covering Molly's shoulder and lower arm as she stepped up to Molly and started to give her a hug.

"I'll take that hug, but keep it gentle Aunt Grace, I think you can see why we're back early and why I brought all the guys along. We'd like to tell you and Cap together if I can. I'm tired and would like to tell this story just once."

"Sure sweetie, let me go get him." Grace finished her hug and turned to go outside. Grace exited the sliding door to go get Cap and carefully shut it behind her. She knew what the reaction would be when she mentioned the injuries and she hoped to shield the "kids" a little bit from the reaction. Grace Stanley wasn't old enough to be the parent of any of her husband's team, but she still thought of each of them as one of the "kids".

"Hi dear, how's that grill coming along?"

"Almost ready, dear, almost ready."

"Good, we've got visitors. Molly came home early and brought the boys along. Judging by the bags of groceries they are carrying I think they are planning an impromptu party."

"Well, good thing I've already started the grill, the more the merrier. Bring them on out."

"Um, dear, there's more. We need to go inside for just awhile. Chet and Molly seem to be hurt and I think they want to tell us what happened all together. Your team sure does love and look out for one another. The boys seem awfully nervous. I think that's why they want the party, so that you can't be too tough on them because they brought dinner." Grace finished that last sentence with a soft chuckle.

"Aw, hell! How'd they manage an injury?!" There it was, very loud and very Captain like, Grace winced even though she knew it was coming and then the reaction she also knew would be coming, much softer and more full of concern than frustration, "Oh, sorry Grace. It was a simple camping trip and hike. Molly's done that same hike a dozen times. The first time she was just a child! But, I guess the fact that Molly is standing in the living room and not lying in the hospital is reason enough for a party. Let's go get the details on this latest adventure and see what they brought for dinner."

Everyone inside the house flinched when they heard Cap's raised voice.

"It's okay. He only yelled once. We have nothing to worry about." Molly knew her uncle the best, but the men knew she was right. It was only bad if he kept yelling. "Hey, guys, everyone have a seat, get comfortable, we'll go outside in a bit and have our party, just relax for now."

It wasn't long before Cap and Grace came into the house together, ready to hear the tale of adventure and injury. Johnny had already had so much practice he started in without much prompting.

"Hi Cap, have we got a story for you. You are going to be so proud of Molly when we are done telling it and really, the injuries aren't that bad, pretty much just what you see." Johnny proceeded to retell the events of the morning, putting additional focus on Molly's heroics and Mike's ability as a paper weight. When he was done telling about Doc Shulman and the orders for Molly to be watched overnight he simply stopped talking and let the silence take over.

Cap shook his head, "Twits, that's what you all are is just a bunch of twits." Cap looked at Molly, "You saved Chet's life?"

"That's what I'm told, sir. I didn't want him to become a pancake. I thought that would kind of ruin the trip. Really, though, instinct and training took over. I didn't really think about it too much, sir."

"Mike, so you are a paper weight now, instead of a talented and highly trained engineer?"

"I believe I can do both jobs, sir," Mike knew that his Captain was teasing him with his question.

"Chet, what, in heaven's name made you think you could fly?"

"I'm not sure, sir, but it sure was a beautiful day and the view was amazing. I guess I figured I needed a closer look at the mountain than I had been getting, sir," Chet also knew that his Captain wasn't looking for a straight answer. This was how they let off steam at the end of a hard day. A little humor, a little teasing and things were not quite so stressful.

"Marco and Johnny, what made you two think that you should haul this man's sorry behind back up the mountain?"

"Duty," Johnny replied in a light hearted tone, "didn't want you to have to train a new lineman, sir. The good ones are hard to find." Johnny turned and gave Chet a smile as he said the last part. Chet knew he really meant the sentiment and that it wasn't all teasing.

"Did it for Molly, she wasn't looking too comfortable hanging on to my partner sir," Marco answered back.

"Well then, I hear you guys planned a party at my house without asking me first, when does Roy arrive?"

"Any minute Cap, we told him to give us an hour. It's been almost that. We also thought he and Joanne might take Molly for the night. I didn't know if you wanted me to stay here to keep an eye on her," Johnny said, only slightly surprised that Cap knew about Roy when they hadn't mentioned that part yet.

Hank clapped his hands together, saying, "Well, we'll deal with that when it's a little closer to bedtime. Let's see what you brought and get it ready, I'm starved. Ah, steak, you guys really are trying to kiss up."

As the crew moved outside to start the party Cap pulled Johnny aside and putting one hand on his shoulder, gave him a gentle squeeze and whispered in his ear, "Thanks for bringing them back in one piece. I'm very grateful."

John looked into his Cap's eyes when he said, "Every time Cap, if there is any way I can I will, every time. It's my job, sir. And, really, this time Molly did the hard work."

"I know and I'm really proud of her, but I also know that for you it's much more than just your job, it's who you are and that's why I value you being on my team so much and consider you family, John. You are more than welcome to stay the night if it means you are taking care of Molly. Thank you. For everything. Last year, when this all started," he waved a vague hand over the area between where they were standing and where Molly was sitting, "I handled it wrong. I'd seen so many of your relationships end, and sometimes badly." They both remembered Valerie, the only person John had ever proposed to, although it was mostly an accident that it had happened. "I didn't want this to end badly. I should have known to trust you. I watch you work, you spend time with my family during our down time. I should have trusted my knowledge of you as a man. I'm sorry."

Cap moved off to man the grill, enough had been said and Johnny knew to leave it there. He turned to look at Molly and found her watching them with a question in her eyes. He nodded and smiled, answering her question. One of Molly's main concerns about moving forward in their relationship while at Station 51 was that she wanted to be the last person that caused friction between John and Cap, so she had created the hiatus to deal with that. Now any doubt about their relationship was removed. While John and Molly knew he didn't need Cap's approval for their relationship it still felt good to have it. He felt really, really good as he looked around the yard and saw his family before him. The guys were throwing a ball around with Cap's son. Roy's kids were just coming through the door and were ready to join the game. Molly had been settled on a lounge chair with her feet up and a pillow behind her shoulder. Someone, probably Grace, had put a blanket over her legs. They were here to celebrate life and Johnny was ready to join the gang. It was time for his life to take the next step and he was looking forward to it with all his heart. Roy walked up behind Johnny and put a hand on his shoulder.

"How's it going Junior?"

"Good, Pally, it's going really, really good. Have I got a story for you, but first I want to make sure Molly is okay, it's time for her to take her meds. I'll be right back. Wait for me?"

"Always, Junior, always."

Johnny didn't say anything, but flashed Roy one of his trademark grins and Roy knew the words had hit home.

Roy watched as his partner and friend went to check on the newest member of their family and could tell that the story Johnny had to tell would be a good one, but that the story Johnny was still creating would be even better.

Epilogue

It was now October and the leaves in Idyllwild had turned to gold and were starting to litter the ground. Back in May Molly had transferred to L.A. permanently and was working out of station 99, but right now she was on vacation. John and Molly had stopped, briefly, in Hemet to visit Station #1. This was the station the served the area surrounding the hospital and the first to be outfitted with a fully staffed paramedic squad. Doctor Shulman met them at the Emergency room to give them a tour of the radio bay that had been installed and discuss the number of lives that had been saved so far. It was a very satisfying visit.

John and Molly had spent the last three days in the beautiful mountain hamlet of Idyllwild. Their stay at their cabin had been their wedding present from the guys and they still had the remainder of the week to enjoy the mountains. The wedding itself was a gorgeous affair planned to the last detail by Grace, Joanne and Molly. The men of 51 had stood with John as Molly's dad walked her down the aisle. Sarah, Molly's niece, whom the men had met when she was part of the same bus crash that introduced them to Molly, was a flower girl along with Roy's daughter Jennifer. Joanne was Molly's Matron of honor and Roy's son Chris the ring bearer. By the end of their vows not one dry eye remained in the house. Roy's toast at the banquet as Best Man had started the tears flowing again as it was the perfect blend of humorous and hopeful.

Now the newlyweds found themselves dangling on a rocky cliff face.

Right now John was sitting on a narrow ledge, well, leaning into a narrow ledge, it wasn't really wide enough for sitting, but this spot in their climb was one of only a few places wide enough to allow them to come up side by side. He was watching his wife pull her way over an outcropping that had been a little tricky. He watched as her left hand slipped, but her other hand had a solid grasp on a ridge at the edge of the boulder she was clinging to. She took a second to shake out her arm, wipe her hand on her shorts and then find a better handhold and continue on. When she was about six feet below him she looked up and smiled and he thought his world couldn't get any more wonderful.

"What are you doing just sitting there?"

"Just watching the most wonderful and rare creature on earth climb a mountain."

"You're silly."

"Yeah, but you're the one who married me. Don't you know how rare you are? You're the only person in the entire world I can or would want to call wife." He reached down and helped pull her the last few inches onto his ledge.

"Thanks, husband. Wow, look at that view." She swept her hand over the valley that lay under their feet.

"It's quite something."

She looked over at him and saw him looking solidly at her and not at the view. She leaned over bumping him with her shoulder. "You're silly, but love you too. Hey, what do you say we finish this off and get out of here? There is a Jacuzzi back at our cabin calling my name."

"Your wish is my command, wife." He was enjoying the sound of that word so much he was quickly turning it into a nickname. "You are right, I think I can hear that Jacuzzi from here. Hey, how's that shoulder doing?" He reached out and gently rubbed the subject of his question. She had healed just fine from her dislocated the shoulder. The lower back pain had lingered longer than the effects of the shoulder, but Chet had taught her some yoga stretches that had helped immensely. Chet had become a good friend and was in charge of watching the house and checking their mail while they were away. John still asked after any strenuous activity or long shift how she was doing.

"I'm fine, husband. That slip down there was because I hadn't chalked my hands and finding the right grip was harder than I expected. I'm fine. By the time I'm ready to follow you I'll be a little more rested and I'm chalking right now. See?" She dipped her hand into her chalk bag, pulling a little more than she actually needed she rubbed the powder between her palms. "I do think I'll want to put some heat on it later, but I'll finish this climb no problem." Satisfied with her explanation he left a kiss behind as he turned and started climbing again.

As he turned to pass her she reached out and swatted his tush, leaving a white hand print behind.

"Hey, stop that." He laughed as he reached back and brushed away the dust, laughing as he went.

She watched him climb and thought back to the last time they'd been on this mountain. Something had changed that day. She couldn't ever pinpoint which event over the course of that trip had triggered it, but she knew it was the camping trip that had moved John to propose a week later during an incredibly romantic dinner. It had been a crazy summer with the wedding plans and they'd both been kept more than busy fighting several large wildfires during the long, dry summer. Coming to Tahquitz for their honeymoon had been her idea and now she was thoroughly enjoying watching her husband, she sure loved that word, having a blast scaling this massive rock. She watched him until he reached a spot where he had wedged his shoulders into a niche in the rock and had his feet splayed under him, set wide apart and bracing the rest of his body against the rock. He was setting and checking the lines for their next accent. She held her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice and wolf whistled. "Loving the view from here."

He looked down and saw her staring straight up and blushed. "Stop that. I'm trying to concentrate."

"Me too."

He laughed at her antics, shaking his head and went through every step he'd just done to make sure he hadn't missed anything before starting the last ascent. She chuckled and waited for him to continue on again. Soon they were both standing on top of Tahquitz and looking down with the world at their feet. Sweaty, grimy and sore they were both happy as they could be. Putting their arms around each other they felt that their climb together was a perfect symbol of their lives together. A lot of difficulty had gotten them to this point, but now that they were here, together, nothing could be better. After sharing a rather passionate kiss that was viewed only by the wildlife around them, they turned and walked into the next phase of their lives, stronger than ever.

_Author's note: Hemet, Idyllwild, Devil's Slide Trail and Tahquitz Peak (aka Tahquitz Rock) are all real places. I narrowed the trail only a tiny bit for the story (it really is only wide enough for one at a time in some places) and accentuated the danger from rock slide. However, as Molly said at the beginning of the story, it is not unheard of for people to die on this trail or a partner trail on the opposite side of the peak, not common, but not unheard of. Hemet-Ryan airport is a primary attack base for Cal-Fire's planes so I decided to put Search and Rescue for the mountain there too, though I can't confirm if this was the case in the 70's. I'm not sure Molly would actually use chalk while climbing, I see her as more of a purist in everything she does, but she needed it in order to leave a hand print on Johnny's butt, and who doesn't want to leave a hand print or two there (oh, I've said too much). I've always thought that the original tower comprising Hemet Hospital resembled a baby Rampart. The set up described for the hospital was accurate for the time of the story. Additions to the building have changed its appearance, but the baby Rampart tower is still visible. I don't think that the hospital itself is actually visible, binoculars or not, from the Ranger tower, but other parts of the valley are visible from the mountain so I ran with it. There might be more Molly and John in the future…we'll have to wait and see if they'll have anything else to say. For now, they are just enjoying their honeymoon so we'll leave them in peace. :)_


End file.
